News
New Zealand Listener
Bridal shower
The world has had a ball mocking and harumphing over the Fellini-esque epic known as Jeff in Venice. But in fairness, any analysis of modern wedding stats would show that the Bezos-Sánchez nuptials were, proportionate to the couple's liquidity, a bit on the stingy side.
2 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
The last of her kind
Novelist's Ukraine-set dark feminist satire twists and turns around a very real existential threat.
4 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Spies who stayed out in the cold
Amid a welter of spy stories, two new books highlight the toll on agents playing the long game between East and West.
4 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Susan, silently
Untrained and unable to speak, Susan Te Kahurangi King is one of our greatest artists, most often compared to Picasso.
10+ min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Riding high
With her 39th novel just published, Stacy Gregg has carved out a place in children's fiction with stories about ponies and other creatures.
7 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
A better beast
The seventh Jurassic movie sees the franchise born again.
2 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Rage against the machine
New poetry collections examine human intimacy, AI and nature, with delicacy and power.
3 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Dive in with both feet
How our national ballet, contemporary dancers and an eminent rock musician found common ground in a new work.
4 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Flight risk
A veteran scientist who fears for the fate of an astonishing NZ albatross says we can quickly counter one threat - commercial fishing.
10 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Spread of the super bugs
Professor Naresh Singhal says resistance to common medicines is growing, with the bigger issue now the hazards in our waterways.
2 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Winning by default
As the cost-of-living crisis continues, the government has been reduced to tinkering, with Labour looking set for a comeback.
4 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Anxiety triggered
Over the past decade or so, it has become commonplace in the UK for celebrities to speak out about their mental health difficulties everyone from Prince Harry to the most obscure reality TV star has come forward to testify to their struggles with one or other mental disorders.
2 min |
July 19-25, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Food with empathy
Kiwi cordon bleu chef Wendy Morgan's second cookbook focuses on simple comforts.
4 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Round-up on herbicide
A proposed 100-fold rise in permitted glyphosate residue in food hits fierce opposition.
3 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Town versus country
It could be the headline of the year: “Hot price for parking,” trumpeted the front page lead of our local paper, the Wairarapa Times-Age. “As if people needed another reason to live in Wairarapa,” the story below it began, “we have some of the most reasonable parking rates in New Zealand.”
3 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Get with the program
We take a look at the best TV of 2025 so far, starting with Murderbot, a US sci-fi show involving two prominent Kiwi directors.
4 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Death becomes him
With the streaming premiere of Ballard this month, legendary crime writer Michael Connelly's career-long exploration of Los Angeles continues.
6 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
The great indoors
As the peak of winter approaches, books editor Mark Broatch and our reviewers pick their favourites of the year so far and point to tantalising titles to come.
7 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Fame & therapy
Lorde's latest is extraordinary for its candour.
3 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Success stories
The cliché of the lonely writer is far from the truth for the many illustrious names who have drawn on the strength of others.
8 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
In the key of Gee
Maurice Gee's genius can be traced through his appearances in the pages of the Listener over the decades.
5 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
And then Laura died
Firing imagination and wit, being read to and reading are among the great pleasures of childhood.
6 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Time to get reel
This year’s NZ International Film Festival programme is full of documentaries about local arts figures – and one former arts minister.
3 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
It's not me, it's you
Back-slapping bonhomie was always a feature when Australia's prime ministers met US presidents. To George W Bush, John Howard was the man of steel. After Bob Hawke met Ronald Reagan in 1983, an effusive Hawke wrote: \"The President and Prime Minister were Ron and Bob.\"
2 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Exploring kānuka
Early results suggest a rongoā Māori plant may improve the effects of a drug with anti-ageing potential.
3 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Court smarts
Netball legends come out of retirement with something to pass on.
2 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Wind in her sails
Auckland Philharmonia's Gabrielle Pho has been devoted to the French horn since the age of 3.
2 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Reading the room
Reading Ambassador and author Kate De Goldi has been preparing for her new role for years.
8 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Psychedelic sense
When Medsafe announced last month it had granted approval to an application to prescribe psilocybin - the active compound in “magic” mushrooms - the public response was notable for its lack of consternation. Psilocybin is, after all, a class A controlled drug, meaning, according to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, it poses “a very high risk of harm”.
2 min |
July 12-18, 2025
New Zealand Listener
Lost and found
An unconventional family is at the heart of this tale of an Algerian woman finding a home in New York.
3 min |